I think Hockey players tend to be the most skilled inline skaters. I used to session skate in some Bauer Hockey skates...but I was in the pace lines at the Dome. It was after they passed to no checking rule. I'd be there once a week at least if they ever started it again.

The original group who bid 20 mil for it 2 years ago is trying to legally block the sale. They had wanted to turn it into a Casino. They wanted the price reduced upon finding some structural defects and the sale kind of died. It's probably going to be held up in the courts for a while to whomever gets it.

The original group who bid 20 mil for it 2 years ago is trying to legally block the sale. They had wanted to turn it into a Casino. They wanted the price reduced upon finding some structural defects and the sale kind of died. It's probably going to be held up in the courts for a while to whomever gets it.

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The city is going to look pretty silly if these guys were willing to put down $15MM defects and all, and they sold it for pocket change.

Politicians should never manage property. They only care about the condition of the asset for as long as they are in power, and are likely to push maintenance off into the future. They don't have the same incentives as an owner does to take care of his asset over the long term.

If most NBA teams owned their arenas the ways the Pistons do, the Sonics would still be in Seattle.

Andreas Apostolopoulos didn't expect to actually win when he mailed in a low-ball bid for an abandoned 88,000-seat stadium in suburban Detroit. After spotting an auction ad in the back of a newspaper only weeks ago, he decided to bid $583,000 (U.S.) for the Pontiac Silverdome, the former home of football's Detroit Lions. The president of Toronto-based Triple Properties Inc. put a $250,000 deposit in the mail, with only online documents from the auction house to guide him.

Then he forgot about it, content to manage his company's small portfolio of retail and industrial properties.

"It was a bit surprising," Mr. Apostolopoulos said yesterday after the sale was confirmed by a U.S. judge.

"There were really very few bids."

Mr. Apostolopoulos' bid, one of four, has earned attention across the United States for the extraordinary price: It values the stadium at about 1 per cent of the $55.7-million it cost to build in 1975.

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Just how it will be developed is unclear. Mr. Apostolopoulos doesn't want to talk about his plans for the stadium, which also includes 127 acres of land, other than to say that he would like to see a Major League Soccer team take up residence.

But he hasn't actually spoken to anyone at MLS, and the league went a step further by saying it hasn't talked to anyone about the possibility. "I am not really comfortable talking about what are plans are just yet," Mr. Apostolopoulos said. "It is just too soon."

In fairness, he didn't expect his bid to win. The 57-year-old doesn't have experience managing large venues or sports facilities, but sees opportunities.

"I've got all kinds of things in mind," he said yesterday as he began planning a trip to see his new stadium. "But I'm going to need a little time."

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"I'm not worried because I can carry the costs for a few years," he said, adding he'll finance the deal himself rather than seek a mortgage.